Chinese healthcare has been rocked by the revelations that for years, many of the vaccines given by state hospitals may have been incorrectly stored or been past their expiry date.

The fraud is alleged to stretch back to 2011 and involves vaccines against meningitis, rabies and other illnesses. The fraud was uncovered after a black market ring worth almost $90 million was exposed last month.

The scandal has sparked anger and drawn criticism from the government over glaring loopholes in the regulation of the world's second-largest medicine market. It casts a shadow over government intention to strengthen the domestic drug industry. It also highlights the difficulty in regulating the nation’s fragmented medicine supply chain.

The Government has stressed that the vaccines were not counterfeit but that the illegal supply chain means that some may not have been handled correctly or may have expired.